ROCK HILL

 I can't even put into words how I felt when I met the children on Rock Hill. Experiencing Rock Hill results in a purely visceral reaction that cannot ever be put down on paper.  The photos below tell part of the story.  See the gray dust on their faces?  Yes, that's because they have spent the day with a hammer, breaking rocks....large rocks into medium size rocks, medium size rocks into small rocks, and small rocks into smaller rocks.  These children toil at this all day....AND YET, their spirit is unbreakable.  They giggle, smile, make fun of the way I speak (can you imagine that?), and LOVED to have the picture taken.  One little boy had a small radio and we even danced!!  The Director of Rock Hill explained to me that their greatest need is clean water.  They need a well. Many of  these children are sick because of contaminated water (many had rashes even washing in it!).  I also noticed many children were coughing and had upper respiratory issues...undoubtedly because of breathing rock dust all day.  Our wonderful American school children have contributed shoes and books for Liberia in thr past...I'm thinking that raising money so these children could get clean water would be a wonderful task for a few schools.  They currently have a hole for the well, but it needs to be dug deeper (it is dry during the dry season) and they would also need well equipment.  Again, it amazes me the wonderful spirit of these children..they are truly inspiring.  And....they are so excited for the least thing...the yellow bags you  see them sitting on...that's rice that we brought with us.  The children were so excited they all wanted to sit on the bags!  Thank you all so much for caring!        Ann Fournier